Obama nominates Gary Blankinship to be U.S. Marshal in Houston — again

The White House tonight made it official, again: Gary L. Blankinship, the former president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union, has been nominated by President Obama to be United States Marshal for the Southern District of Texas.

Blankinship, who retired from the Houston Police Department last year as a senior police officer, was one of four U.S. marshals formally nominated by President Obama this evening.

His nomination was first announced by the White House on May 17, 2012, but he was not confirmed before the congressional session ended.

The other nominees announced this evening were federal prosecutor Robert L. Hobbs of Beaumont in the Eastern District of Texas, Amos Rojas Jr., in the Southern District of Florida and Peter C. Tobin in the Southern District of Ohio.

“These nominees have spent their careers risking their own safety to protect their fellow Americans,” Obama said in a statement. “Their courage and selfless dedication to the public good are unparalleled, and I am honored to nominate them today to continue their work as U.S. Marshals.”

Blankinship boasts a 35-year law enforcement career that has included a stint as Vice President for the National Association of Police Organizations. He founded the the Assist the Officer Foundation following the 1993 death of his partner to provide short-term, immediate financial assistance for officers critically injured or disabled in the line of duty.

Hobbs is the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Texas and is the attorney in charge of the office’s Beaumont and Lufkin divisions. Before becoming a federal prosecutor, Hobbs was a Jefferson County prosecutor from 1996 to 1999.

More biographical info from the White House:

Mr. Hobbs graduated from the South Texas College of Law in 1996 and received his B.S. from Lamar University in 1987. Between graduating from college and law school, he served as the Commander and Project Director of the Jefferson County Narcotics Task Force from 1992 to 1996; as a Senior Criminal Investigator in the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office from 1984 to 1992; and as a police officer in Corpus Christi and Jefferson County from 1977 to 1984.